


The star and the wolf

by Tikor



Series: Lunar oral history of the Usurpation to the present [1]
Category: Exalted
Genre: Fanfiction, Gen, storyteller - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-05-10
Updated: 2016-05-10
Packaged: 2018-06-07 12:15:38
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 776
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6803761
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Tikor/pseuds/Tikor
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A history in the Lunar oral tradition.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The star and the wolf

A golden woman walked Creation alongside her wolf. They shared in their kills, they drank water from the same streams, and they loved one another. But the golden woman was Exalted above the wolf. A wolf would never lead the woman, yet this point was far from their minds. With each day the golden woman become brighter, absorbing more of the power and wisdom of the sun. Soon she shone so bright that she burned all around her, plant and fish and ground and sky. The wolf was burned most of all, for she followed the golden woman even in her terrible brilliance. The wolf was burned, but survived.

When the golden woman was sleeping a star came to the wolf and asked "Why do you follow the golden woman?" The wolf answered "It has always been thus since the moon follows the sun." The star put a question to the wolf "Are you sure the sun does not follow the moon?" The wolf did not have an answer for she had never considered which had truly come first; she had not seen the start of days. Before the wolf and the star could discuss further both the sun and the golden woman came back and the star left before their brilliance.

As the golden woman and the wolf were hunting and drinking and loving the wolf asked the golden woman "Which came first in the cycle of days, the sun or the moon?" The golden woman hit the wolf, and the wolf cried out. "The sun came before, just as I walk before you." The wolf was silent, but in the days after she thought often of the star and the moon and the sun and the start of days.

Some time later the star came to talk to the wolf again. The star asked "Have you solved the riddle of the start of days?" The wolf said she had. She said to the star "The sun came first. The golden woman told me so." The star said to the wolf "Of course she would say so, wouldn't she?" To this the wolf again had no answer. The star saw the wolf's pain and said to the wolf "I have a plan to cast down the sun and the golden woman and in their place put a great fire. Will you help me with this?" The wolf was afraid, she said to the star "But I love the golden woman! And the golden woman will hurt us both if we do that! No, I will not help you!"

So it was again that the golden woman and the wolf hunted and drank and loved. The wolf was burned often, but saw no way out without leaving the world she loved for by this time the golden woman's brilliance shone over all Creation. One night while both the golden woman and the wolf were sleeping the star shot down from the heavens and impaled the golden woman and dragged her away, bleeding, to a cage and locked her away. The wolf cried out but did not raise her claws and fangs against the star for he was surrounded by fire and thunder and dancing earth. To the star the wolf shouted "Now that you have done this, what will you do with me?" for the wolf was a survivor, and thought often of the best way through bad times. The star said to the wolf "To get the flame to grow large enough to replace the sun I had to tell it lies. That it was the brightest, the best, the only. Do not go near it, for it will burn you out of jealousy." Then, the star shot back up to heaven. The wolf ran, as far and as fast as she could. But no matter how far she ran she saw the light of the fire, for it had grown to replace the sun and soon shone over all Creation. Now, lost and alone, the wolf was of two minds. She was no longer burned by the golden woman, but now she had to hunt for herself, she had no one to watch her hindquarters as she drank from the stream, and she was cold and lonely through the night.

The wolf was sad and angry with these things. She said to herself "I will put out the fire the star has lit and I will tear the stars down from the heavens and I will lead myself better than the golden woman ever led me." But even after those strong words the wolf still stalks the edges of the world, cold and alone.


End file.
